The BJP today dismissed the questions raised by the Congress on the Rafale deal as a "collective singing of falsehood" to defend Rahul Gandhi, who, it said, was "prima facie guilty of breach of privilege for misleading" the Lok Sabha.

Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also cited replies made in Parliament by then UPA government on defence purchases and other issues in which its defence minister, first Pranab Mukherjee and then A K Antony, had declined to share price details and other information on the ground of national security.

The UPA government's stand was right, Prasad said as he accused Gandhi of trying to wreak havoc on India's security for his political considerations.

"The stand of the Congress on the Rafale deal is clearly not in the interest of the country," he told reporters and took a dig at Gandhi, saying he should try to be more responsible at a time his party is seeking to project him as its prime ministerial candidate.

The allegation levelled by the opposition party that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had misled the House is "baseless, mischievous and also irresponsible", he asserted.

The Congress has been demanding that the government share details of the Rafale fighter aircraft price as it accused the Modi government of buying them at a much higher price than it was originally negotiated.

Prasad said the base price of each aircraft negotiated by the government with France is at 91.75 million Euro, nine per cent less than the 100.85 million Euro the UPA government had decided upon.

The government has been forthcoming in declaring the aircraft's price but details of the operationally sensitive matter, including India specific enhancement and logistics support package, would end up disclosing the vital information about the Indian Air Force's strength, the minister said.

"As these sensitive matters overlap the price details, the previous government (UPA) on many earlier occasions did not disclose them on the floor of the House in public interest. This includes import of weapons from the USA and imports of defence items and missiles from Israel," he said.

The BJP leader claimed that Congress leaders like former prime minister Manmohan Singh and Antony may understand the sensitivity involved with the deal but were "forced" to demand that the NDA government share details of the fighter aircraft, to defend Gandhi.

"Dynastic parties are always a crowd around a family. That is true of the Congress. Since a member of the family has resorted to falsehood, the crowd around the family has no option but to collectively sing the tune of falsehood. This is what has happened today," he said.

The UPA government was a "byword for corruption" and the Congress has been raking up a "manufactured" issue to create a smoke screen that others are also corrupt like it, Prasad alleged and rejected the Congress' threat of a breach of privilege motion against Prime Minister Modi and Defence Minister Sitharaman as an act of "misplaced bravado".

Prasad said this might have happened for the first in the world, not the least in India, than a foreign government denied a statement made on a domestic issue in Parliament.

Following Gandhi's claim in the Lok Sabha that the French president had told him that there is no secrecy pact on the Rafale deal pricing with India, the French Embassy had said in a statement that a security agreement it concluded with India in 2008 legally binds the two countries to protect the classified information relating to operational capabilities of defence equipment.

Accusing Gandhi of making false statement in the Lok Sabha during his speech on the no-confidence motion on the deal, the BJP has already submitted a privilege notice against him.

"As part of his defence, Rahul has attempted to divert from the issue and hence, today's press conference by the Congress' senior leaders," Prasad said.

This stand of the Congress is not only contrary to its own stated position between 2004 and 2014, it is against the interest of India's security and hence, deeply distressing and regrettable, Prasad said.

The absence of any meaningful election issue with the Congress party has compelled it to compromise India's security. The BJP rejects the allegations by the Congress being borne out of its political helplessness, he said.

The aircraft's basic cost has already been placed in the Lok Sabha on November 18, 2016, and in the Rajya Sabha on March 12, 2018 and March 19, 2018.

Giving details, he said the UPA had invited quotes for 126 aircraft in 2007 and the price quoted 79.3 million Euro with in-built escalation formula.

When the bid was opened in 2011, the proposed cost in the bid document was 100.85 million Euros per aircraft, however, this also could not be finalised, he said.

The NDA government under the inter-government agreement finalised 91.75 million Euros as cost of an aircraft, nine per cent less, he said.

Prasad also said the government-run HAL will now produce 123 light combat aircraft, which will be completely indigenous, as he rejected the Congress' charge that the public sector unit was denied the contract.